Real Madrid paying gazillions for Gareth Bale is the soccer equivalent of a fat cat using flaming banknotes to light up his cigars. In the middle of biting economic crisis in Spain, it looks wasteful and nonsensical.

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If stacked in a pile of 50 euro notes, the fee that Real is paying to north London club Tottenham for the winger would stretch far higher than the second floor of the Eiffel Tower.

Exactly how much higher wasn't immediately clear because the clubs, officially at least, didn't disclose the financial details. The word in London was that Bale sold for 100 million euros ($132 million), which would be a world record for soccer.

Reports from Spain spoke of $120 million, hardly a snip. It was in Real's interests to leak that lower figure. It means that Cristiano Ronaldo, Real's preening superstar, can continue to claim the mantle of being the world's most expensive soccer player. Real paid $131 million to Manchester United for him in 2009.

Either way, such a sum for Bale is plain silly. He's simply not worth that much money. At least, not yet.

A fortune like that for Lionel Messi, four-time world player of the year, would be easier to understand. He has scored more competitive goals than anyone for Barcelona and won everything there is to win with that club. Still only 26, just two years older than Bale, Messi is already up there with Pele and Diego Maradona as one of the best soccer players ever. He could also lead Argentina to glory at the World Cup in Brazil next year, which Bale will never do with Wales.

With 202 goals in 202 games for Real, an astounding ratio of success, Ronaldo also has repeatedly proved his value for the nine-time European champions. He was already a proven winner when he moved to Madrid, at the same age Bale is now, having scooped up trophies galore in six seasons under Alex Ferguson in Manchester, including the 2008 European Cup.

Bale's abundance of speed and talent has been clear to all since he humbled European club defender of the year Maicon and his Inter Milan teammate Lucio in the Champions League in 2010, burning past both Brazilians, making them look five steps too slow.

As he accumulated goals, match-winning performances and individual player of the year awards at Tottenham, it became clear that Bale was outgrowing the club and would likely need to move elsewhere to win team trophies. Tottenham hasn't been able to offer Bale another taste of Champions League play since that 2010-2011 season when it lost to Real in the quarterfinals, spanked 5-0 over two legs.

Still, as good as he undoubtedly is, Bale isn't world-record good or close to it. Sooner or later, it was inevitable that a club would one day pay 100 million euros for a soccer player. That milestone has symbolic importance only, because prices always go up, soccer is never short of people with more money than sense and because the very best players really can make a big difference to clubs' sporting and financial success.

But few people would have put Bale in that 100-million category before this summer. He is no Messi. He cannot match the Argentine for technique. At Real, Bale will be second fiddle to Ronaldo, four years his senior. Both are blindingly quick, which should make opponents quake if they combine well together. But the Portuguese forward is better in the air and less predictable than Bale and a far more polished, rounded product than the Welsh winger.

In short, this looks less like Real investing wisely or paying real market value and far more like club President Florentino Perez making another giant splash, just as with other ``Galaticos'' - blockbuster stars - he previously recruited. Barcelona beat Real in a bidding war for Neymar, signing the Brazil star this June in a deal worth 57 million euros. Real now spending so lavishly on Bale sends the message, ``Anything you can do, we can do bigger.''

Had Real bought three players for a total of 100 million euros, there would have been less fuss. Spending that amount or close to it on Bale alone - in a country locked in economic recession for most of the past four years and with a stubbornly high unemployment rate above 26 percent - shocked some critics.

``Given the situation of the Spanish economy right now it's a slap in the face to society,'' said University of Barcelona finance professor Jose Maria Gay. ``The banks aren't lending, and I imagine that Real Madrid will have to finance the operation at least partially with a bank loan. It appears very wrong to me. It's an act of arrogance when normal people are having a hard time.''

The thousands of fans who thronged to Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium for Bale's official presentation Monday looked happy enough, cheering and applauding the new recruit who showed off his skills in his fresh white team jersey.

But the trick for Bale will be keeping them happy. From now on, Bale will be measured week in, week out against Messi, Ronaldo and his own massive price tag. Those are awfully high expectations. There's no guarantee Bale can fulfill them.

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John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester(at)ap.org or follow him at http://twitter.com/johnleicester